Rock Werchter, Belgium
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
14
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Rock Werchter,
Belgium
Thursday, July 3, 2003
We were hoping to include some pictures from Rock Werchter but we still don't have internet access at home. We applied to get DSL but now have to wait about 1 month until it is installed - pretty annoying but this is a beaurocratic country so why would getting DSL be any different? Anyways, pictures will follow shortly (I hope) but in the meantime...
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FROM JULIE:
This weekend Stephen and I went to Werchter, Belgium for a four-day music festival. Shortly after Stephen found out that we were going to Amsterdam for three years he looked in to the music scene. He found Rock Werchter. He told me in January, that Radiohead and Coldplay would be there - 2 of his favorite bands. He also told me that people camp out during the four days. I agreed to go. I am not sure why. I think it is because I never really believed the day would ever come that I would be living in Amsterdam and therefore I would never have to go to this music festival. Well, the weekend of the show finally arrived and here are our many experiences.
Stephen picked me up at home in a rental car at 3:30 PM on Thursday afternoon. We loaded up the car with camping equipment (we borrowed a tent from Chris and Melanie - Melanie works for ABN-AMRO) and our clothes and blankets. Chris and Melanie have winter weather sleeping bags and Stephen thought we would be too hot in those so we took a bunch of blankets.
Stephen adds: It was too hot for the winter sleeping bags. The blankets worked out just fine.
Some how we found our way out of Amsterdam Center and found the expressway very easily. The expressways are very well marked. We looked at a map and figured out what towns we needed to go through to get to Rock Werchter. Werchter isn't on the map, but the nearby town of Leuven is. Werchter is also about 30-minute drive from Brussels.
It is interesting to drive and not be able to read the road signs. I was thinking we would be screwed if there was a detour, because we would have no clue what the detour signs were telling us. Luckily, that didn't happen. I noticed that when signs are telling you not to do something or when you leave a town it shows a picture or words with an X over it. So when you leave a town, you will see a sign that says Chicago with an X over it so you know you are not in Chicago anymore. There are speed limit signs everywhere. The speed limit signs are able to constantly changing, in order to attempt to make the traffic flow better. We found that they had the exact opposite effect. These signs seem to be every ½ mile and hang over the expressway. Every time vehicles approach them they hit the brakes. So every ½ mile we seemed to be slowing down for no reason.
Stephen adds: The reason everyone slows down is because the speed limit signs come complete with speed guns and cameras so if you are clocked going over the speed limit, a picture of your license plate is taken and a ticket is sent to you in the mail. In my opinion, this is a rather ineffective way to keep traffic moving and probably causes more accidents than it prevents.
We had no problem finding our way to Leuven. It took just over 2 hours to get there, but once we got 11 km away we hit concert traffic. At this point we were off the expressway and driving through small Belgium towns. We slowly traveled toward Werchter. We noticed that the local town's people all were sitting outside their houses watching the traffic go by. Clearly, this is the highlight of their year, watching cars stream by.
It is now about 10:30 PM and Radiohead went on at 11:45 and Stephen started to get anxious, because we have yet to reach the campsite and we wanted to pitch the tent before the show. We got directed by traffic cops whose English wasn't that good to follow signs to campsite three. All of a sudden we were the only ones on this farm road. We were glad to be out of traffic, but a little uncertain where we were headed. We finally saw a sign that said Camping A8. Stephen knew how the camping was organized said A1 would be closest to the concert venue and the bigger the number the further out. Well, we were at the furthest campsite away and the clock was ticking until Radiohead went on. We parked the car and unloaded our stuff. We were glad that parking was only a 2-minute walk from the campsite. At our campsite there were already over a hundred tents set up. The tents were stacked really close to one another, so we found a place that was at least a few feet from any other tent. We noticed a lot of people sitting around their campsites drinking and blasting music, which we thought was odd because the concert had started at this point and Bjork was on stage.
I went back to the car to get more of our supplies, while Stephen began to put up the tent. When I came back to the tent, I almost had a hissy fit (I said almost b/c before we left I was told/warned that if I was not having a good time I could not let it effect Stephen's good time). The tent was the smallest thing I have ever seen. There was no way the both of us were fitting in there, let alone Stephen by himself, and all our stuff. Stephen said to me that Chris told him it was a 2-person tent. The night before we bought an air mattress and hand pump to blow it up. There was no way that the air mattress was going to fit, but we decided to give it a try. So while Stephen was going to blow up the air mattress, I returned to the car with all our stuff. We only took pajamas, toiletries and clothes for the next day out to have in the tent. We were finally set up and we had 20 minutes to get to the venue to hear Radiohead.
Stephen adds: Incidentally, the air mattress didn't even come close to fitting.
We walked through the campsite and I noticed the 8 port-a-potties that were expected to handle about 500 people. I was not thrilled, again I kept my mouth shut - but not for long on this issue. We asked some of people who were working for the Rock Werchter in our campsite how to get to the concert. It would be a ten-minute walk. We walked quickly through more campsites. Tents upon tents were everywhere. Our campsite was beginning to look better to me. Ours by far was the least crowded and we were camping on grass and not gravel like the others.
When we got to the front gates it was packed. There was a mass of people all huddled around trying to get in. Stephen and I joined the mass. People were pushing and shoving to get through one of about ten gates. Somebody tore a stub off our ticket and we thought we were in. Then we realized we now had to go through another set of gates. Again people were pushing and shoving, I kept thinking this is how stampedes happen, especially when Radiohead went on, people shoved even harder. Stephen was really bummed that he was missing Radiohead. We finally got up to a gate where one guy was working and 100s of people were trying to get in. Stephen, being so tall, reached his hand and ticket out to the guy and he took it and put a bracelet on his wrist. Me, being so short didn't have such luck. I had to wait until I could get closer. I waved my ticket in the guy's face and got a bracelet slapped on. Finally we were in.
Stephen adds: Again, luckily being tall, I was able to watch Radiohead on the big screens from beyond the gates while pushing my way to the front. Not the ideal way to watch a concert but it was sufficient at the time.
We found a spot on the lawn where we could hear well and see the huge TV monitors. We missed about 4 songs of Radiohead. I listened for awhile with Stephen and me not being a fan, I decided to get something to eat. I found pizza, but after looking for prices, I realized that you pay with tickets. So, I had to figure out where to buy tickets. I bought E20 worth of food tickets. 16 ticket = 10 Euro. Pizza was 6 tickets. I then went to get a soda. I tried using the tickets I just bought. I realized that I needed different tickets for drinks. When I asked where to get those, the people working had no idea what I was saying. I walked a little and found the drink ticket line. I bought E10 worth of those. 10 E = 6 tickets, that includes beer, cola, or water. So, finally armed with soda and pizza I found my way back to Stephen. Radiohead ended and we had 30 minutes until the next band, Underworld. A techno music group.
We walked around the concert grounds. I have never been to a 4-day music festival so I could not believe all the food stations. There was also a huge area selling well, crap basically. Tank tops, cheap jewelry, hats, bandanas etc. It was like the stuff you would see sold at a state fair.
The techno band Underworld went on. Everyone was dancing. Nobody was a good dancer, they were more or less hopping around and flailing their limbs. I was so excited because comparatively speaking; I am not such a bad dancer. So, I got right in there and danced my heart out and Stephen watched and laughed at me. I had a very good time. At 2:30 AM we decided we had enough and walked back to the campsite.
The walk back to the camping area is lined with food stands selling, hamburgers, shawrma, sandwiches, hotdogs, anything and everything. We got so caught up in seeing what is going on we got lost going back to our campsite. Luckily, Stephen has a good sense of direction and was able to find our way back to our campsite. I sucked it up and used a port-a-potty before I we got ready for bed. I figured at least it is dark out and I couldn't see what was going on, if you know what I mean.
We got ourselves comfortable in the tent. I put in my earplugs to try and drown out a neighboring camper who was blasting techno on a radio. Around 4 AM it got quiet and I was able to fall asleep. Stephen was asleep 2 seconds after his head hit the pillow. I awoke at 9 AM to more techno music and stifling heat. I used the port-a-potty, washed my face and brushed my teeth in a trough. I was completely nauseated by watching all these other people brush their teeth and spit and decided, I will not be doing that again. After I got dressed in the tent, I pulled a blanket outside and sat and read for 2 and ½ hours until Stephen awoke.
I forgot to add that when you arrive at the campsite you are given a large yellow bag for garbage. Friday morning I could not believe all the trash around some people's tents considering they had yellow bags also. I was thinking what a bunch of animals.
Stephen finally awoke and got ready. We decided to walk around and explore what it is going on around the concert venue before the music began at 3 PM. Again we walked through the other camping areas on our way to the festival. I was in awe. Thousands of tents everywhere.
We decided to try and explore a nearby town. Concert organizers put up metal fences for miles to block concert-goers from going near homes and businesses. We did wander around a small town that seemed to be out of a movie. The church was at the center and old brick houses around it. Even though it was Friday, everything was closed and it seemed like the houses were empty, because of the concert. A local bar was open and so was a bakery were I got a sandwich for lunch.
We also saw a bunch of port-potties that cost 50 cents to use. I decided these would be my bathroom of choice. Stephen decided it was worth the few Euros we would spend if it made me a little bit happier.
At 3 we went into the concert. It was much easier today, no line, no pushing, no shoving. We found a nice place on the grass and set out our blanket. I was thinking this will be really nice to sit in the sun, relax and listen to music. The first band on the Main Stage was Polyphonic Spree. I thought they were fun, but the crowd of mostly Dutch, Belgians and French were not so impressed. After they went off, I realized I had 8 more hours of music to go that day. I was not real thrilled, but I looked at the bright side, the weather was nice and Stephen let me bring my book. While Stephen moved from the Main Stage to the smaller (Pyramid) stage I sat and read.
Not many people had blankets. Everyone was just lying on the grass. People had no respect for the fact we had a blanket. Everyone walked right on it, no one made an effort to step over it. The people sitting next to us would sit on it or put their feet on it. It was so weird. We didn't want to be rude Americans, so we just tolerated it.
It was really hot during the day, so I wore shorts during the day and packed pants for at night. When it started to get cold, I was faced with the dilemma of where to change. I definitely was not going into a port-a-potty to do it. I decided to put on one of Stephen's shirts, which fit me like a dress, to cover me while I changed. I kept saying, I don't care if anyone sees me, who do I know here. So, "I don't care, who do I know here" became my motto for the weekend.
At 10 PM Moby went on stage. Neither of us are Moby fans, I think we were the only two out of 125,000 people who felt that way. The crowd went crazy for Moby. It was unreal. Stephen and I assumed that in the states he would probably play a small venue, like 10,000 people and probably not even sell that out. During his performance, Moby announced that he learned how to say something in French (which caused the crowd to boo, b/c he learned French) that he wanted to share. He said something and the only thing we were able to understand was George Bush, Idiot. Moby then translated and said, "I am sorry, my president, George Bush is a fucking Idiot". The crowd went wild cheering. I was annoyed. I thought it was a lame way to get crowd reaction.
Stephen adds: The Moby comment was super lame. As if I didn't hate him already, now I really want Eminem to kick his ass. I know that if the show was in the States, he would never have said that at the risk of getting Dixie Chicks-type responses. I did find it interesting that everyone booed when he said he learned French - I guess despite everyone's different opinions, the 1 uniform view is that everyone hates the French!
After sleeping only 5 hours the night before, I made Stephen leave before the final act, which was another techno band. When we got back to our tent, I was not happy to see we had new neighbors. A bunch of guys sitting right next to our tent drinking beers around a campfire. At was only 1 AM, so I didn't get annoyed. At 4 AM, when I hadn't slept yet and the guys were still drinking I got annoyed. Finally at 6 AM, they went to bed and so did I. I awoke at 11 and got Stephen up for another day of music.
Stephen adds: I missed all the techno music as I am a very heavy sleeper and generally fall asleep moments after my head hits the pillow. This was true all weekend as well, except for the Saturday night/Sunday morning when it rained for about 30 minutes. For some reason, the rain woke me - but Julie slept through that. Odd.
Saturday, the festival started at 12. We found a spot on the lawn, laid out the blanket and I took out my book. I paid attention to the bands when they came on for about 10 minutes and then went back to my book. There are about 9 bands a day on the Main Stage. Stephen again moved between stages. I did go and see a little of Good Charlotte on the Pyramid Marquee. They put on a good show, the crowd was really into it. Some female singer named Anouk (she's Dutch) came on the Main Stage. The crowd went crazy. She is on MTV here all the time. We think she sucks. While writing this, I have seen her video twice already.
Stephen adds: I think the Dutch like Anouk not because she is gifted but because she is Dutch. They tend to be that way...I can't tell you how many Indiana Pacers hats/shirts I have seen because Rik Smits is Dutch.
There was a booth set up by a local hairdresser where you could get a hair wash, cut, blow dry, temporary hair color or dreds put in. While Anouk was on stage I went to see if the line would be shorter. I hoped everyone went to watch her. I stood in line for only a ½ hour to get my hair washed and blown out. It would have only been a 15 minute wait, but between each hair cut, each hair dresser took a 10 minute smoke break. It felt very good to get my hair washed and dryed.
Stephen talked me into packing up the blanket and going to the Pyramid Marquee with him when a band called Queens of the Stone Age came on the Main Stage. They are heavy metal. Definitely not my thing. We saw Dave Gahan (of Depeche Mode) on the Pyramid Marquee. He was really good. Again, not my type of music, but the crowd was going nuts, so it was fun to see.
Stephen adds: W packed up the blanket since everyone was stepping on it and getting it dirty anyways. To add to Julie's comment on Queen's of the Stone Age, they spent most of their time on stage telling the crowd how drunk they were and discussing a previous trip to Belgium where the lead singer inadvertently showed his privates to the crowd when his pants ripped and explaining that "it was a very cold that day". I thought this whole crowd-pleasing stunt was very Moby-esq.
Around 10 PM, I realized I was exhausted and did not want to go back to the tent for another 2 nights. I was also beginning to notice that there were no garbage cans anywhere on the concert grounds. When you are done eating you just dropped your plate, napkin, spoon, cup and food remains on the ground. It was DISGUSTING. Stinky, nasty food everywhere. I was also getting repulsed seeing men pee anywhere and everywhere. I was able to produce some tears for effect and Stephen asked me what is wrong and I went into my tirade of everything being disgusting. He said we could leave if I was really that unhappy. I knew I could get through the next day....plus we had yet to see Coldplay, and I felt Stephen would regret leaving without seeing them.
Stephen adds: I would not have been angry if we had left. I have seen Coldplay before and I wanted to see them again but if Julie was really unhappy, it would have ruined my time there as well so we might as well have just gone home. She toughed it out though. As Julie pointed out, people peed everywhere. I actually saw a 16 year old (or something like that) with a few beers in his hand (and probably many in his belly) standing in line to get fries whip it out and pee right there in line while waiting for his order to be taken. Everyone around him saw this, but strangely nobody said a thing. It was pretty gross.
We went to see a band from Tucson, called Calexico. I would describe them as rock with a Latin influence. They were my favorite of the weekend. I had fun dancing to them also. Again, who do I know, what do I care if I dance extremely bad and I bought the band t-shirt. Since they are from Tucson we assumed Evan has partied with them. So, I decided I could handle staying out the rest of the weekend.
Metallica was the headlining band of the night. The crowd was so not into them. Remember Europeans love techno and Moby. The only Metallica song I know is Enter Sandman, so I didn't enjoy them that at all. Stephen said he would have enjoyed them better if we would have been closer to the stage.
Stephen adds: The other problem with the Metallica show (and most other Main Stage performances for that matter) was the concert-goers just stood around and talked and drank throughout every act. The people who were really into a bad went up to the stage but I didn't want to have to deal with that kind of crowd. So I was amongst the masses who generally were there for conversation and beer, not to listen to the music. So while Metallica was on stage, everyone around us was goofing around. That definitely caused me to not get as into them as I would have liked to.
Well, back at the campsite, my Belgian neighbors were busy partying again. I was so tired I was hoping I would be able to crash even among the talking, screaming, and techno music. Well, that did not happen. Plus Saturday night was freezing. My teeth were chattering. One drunk tent neighbor decided to sing Good Charlotte songs for hours. He then was crashing into tents. Ours also. While he was doing all this his friends were laughing. At 7 AM, when the drunks passed out, I fell asleep. Again, Stephen slept through all of this.
At 9 AM I was up with the techno music. Finally Sunday had arrived. My last day!!!! We decided to pack up the tent and leave after the concert was over at midnight. The original plan was to wake up at 5 AM Monday morning and leave and Stephen would go straight to work. Since, I would not be asleep until 7 AM, we decided what was the point.
On Sunday, we decided not to bring our blanket, just a towel, since everyone walks all over the blanket. It was super hot out in Sunday. We could not believe people were still drinking beer. Stephen and I drank water the whole weekend, with an occasional coke mixed in.
Coldplay was really awesome. I am glad I got to see them. I want to see them again in a small venue. After hearing REM for an hour, we decided to hit the road due to my urging.
The drive home was easy and a lot quicker then the drive in. We got home at 3:30 AM. I told Stephen he had to shower before going to bed. There was plenty of dirt in the tub when he got out. I was so happy to sleep in a bed.
Stephen can't wait to go again next year. I said I would go as long as we stay in a hotel. What am I getting myself into?
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FROM STEPHEN:
Let me start by saying Julie really took one for the team this past weekend. This was definitely not her type of weekend. I tried to remind her often how wonderful our trips to Copenhagen and Geneva will be in the next few weeks. I don't know if that was effective but nonetheless, we made it through the weekend without any major temper-tantrums. She hung in there with the best of them and I think ultimately, she really did enjoy herself (port-a-potties excluded). This is not to say that she will join me next year so if anyone is interested in Rock Werchter 2004, there will be an empty spot in my car.
But in the end, following a 6-hour drive to Werchter (the event was so poorly organized, it took just about 2 hours to get home on Sunday night) and 53 bands crammed into over 40 hours of music, here is what I think...
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THE DRIVE
I was fairly excited and somewhat nervous about the challenge of driving in Europe. Having spoken to Stan and Sasha just a week earlier about their adventures driving in Florence, Italy during their honeymoon, I was concerned that driving in as complex a city as A'dam is would also be tough. Remember, when the city was built, there were no roads. It is a very confusing city with lots of 1-way streets, bicyclists and pedestrians weaving in and out of traffic at will, and lanes specifically for buses, trams, and taxis.
I was planning on taking the day off but because of a presentation that I had contributed to by the head of risk management to roughly 10 journalists, I went to work and ended up leaving about an hour later than I had planned (3:00). Looking back, I think that hour made a HUGE difference as we probably would have shaved a few hours of traffic off of our journey, but what can I do, I'm a company man =) The presentation was very successful and luckily I didn't have to speak, just observe.
I picked up the car from Hertz (E140 for 4 days) at around 3:30 with little hassle. The only issue was the result of Citibank's credit card fraud prevention team being too proactive - they put a freeze on our account as they noticed 'suspicious' activity on our card. Before we moved, I called Citibank to let them know that we were moving to A'dam and to expect charges from abroad but I guess they didn't code our account properly. I can't really be too upset because I guess I'd rather they be too conservative and notice my 'suspicious' purchases and fix the problem when I contact then (like they did) than to have something really go wrong and deal with the mess afterwards. So after making a quick call to Citibank, the card was fixed and I had the car.
The drive to the apartment was very easy. Having lived in A'dam for just about 3 months now, I am pretty familiar with the city and have a real good sense of where I am going. I remember being completely confused not too long ago as the city is laid out in a series of semi-circles from the central train station southwest-ward, not in a grid like Chicago. But now I know where I am going. I was still nervous about accidentally turning into the bus/tram/taxi lane or driving the wrong way on a 1-way street. And lets not forget the stream of cyclists. It ended up not being a problem at all as I just followed the car in front of me (although I'm still not sure why that car was also going to my apartment - bad joke, sorry). The only things which took a while getting used to was not just looking right before making a right turn turning my whole body all the way around to look behind me in order to be sure that a bike wasn't going to come whizzing by just as I was turning turn into it, causing a very serious accident.
I pulled up to the apartment around 3:45 in a very Dutch manner, stopping in the middle of the narrow 1-way road. A line of cars began to form behind me as I took my time loading suitcase after suitcase into the trunk. I still can't believe how patient drivers are here. Everyone just sat there and watched me pack the trunk, not a single car horn was blown. I couldn't help but think about being in Chicago where if your tires haven't begun rolling when the other direction of traffic's stoplight turns yellow, you get blasted by the horn of a taxi behind you.
After about 3 minutes of loading the car, Julie was downstairs (conveniently, she was taking care of things just long enough for me to pack the car myself) and I pulled into a spot. Julie sat in the car while I went upstairs to change out of my suit. This was also my first experience parking along the canal. It doesn't really sound too impressive but in the US, if you misjudge parking the car, your tire bumps up against the curb. Here, if you misjudge, you're suddenly swimming in the canal.
In a pair of shorts and my Cubs shirt, we headed off at about 4:00. Again, I have a general idea of directions in A'dam but I was not exactly sure how to get to the highway. Luckily A'dam has a highway that circles the town so we just headed outward knowing that eventually we had to hit Ring Amsterdam, and we did.
The rest of the ride was rather uneventful. We rode from A'dam to Utrecht to Breda to Antwerp to Werchter. That whole ride, about 150 miles, took just about 2 ½ hours. It was odd to drive in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fields, canals, and windmills for miles. It was like the drive from Chicago to Madison, minus the 50 McDonalds and other fast-food stops along the way.
We got a little lost just past Antwerp but because everything is so well-marked, we made our way towards the town of Michelen and onward to Leuven and Werchter. And that's when things came to a crashing halt. We were stuck on some small road in the middle of nowhere in bumper to bumper traffic, inching our way along for 3 hours. I maintained my composure as the clock rolled away, getting closer and closer to the beginning of the show.
We were knee-deep in gridlock when 9:45 approached. Bjork was now on stage and I was not happy to be missing her as I was actually pretty interested in seeing her. I kept thinking we would just be late but still get to see some of her but I quickly realized that that was not going to happen. After about 3 hours of sitting in traffic, we made it to someone who was directing traffic. He pointed us in the direction of our campsite and I was thrilled to be there as it was about 11:00 we had just under 45 minutes to set up our tent before heading to the festival site to see the band I was really looking forward to seeing, Radiohead.
It was just getting dark and we hastily threw the tent together. We were both very surprised to see how small the tent we borrowed from Chris and Melanie was but I had 1 thing on my mind at that point...get to the Radiohead show.
We walked for about 15 minutes to the festival ground, dealt with a little frustration (see Julie's comments above) but in the end, it was phenomenal. I was so happy. I have been a big fan of the band since they produced their first album (Pablo Honey) in 1993 but have only seen them once. I was thrilled to be seeing them again and was not disappointed. Even Julie enjoyed them and we are hoping to see them again at a small venue later in the year; they are playing at a bull ring in Madrid and at a castle outside of Venice but we decided to take a pass on both of these as we don't want to use all of my vacation days to see concerts - this was a mutual decision, not an edict from Julie as some of you will probably assume.
But sticking to the title of this section, the drive, I will fast-forward to the ride home. We were very concerned all day about how long the ride home would take. I had to be in the office as normal on Monday because the others in my group were on vacation and I needed to be there in case something blew up before our Tuesday deadline on another presentation. We discussed moving the car to another area in hopes that we could avoid some traffic at the end of the show but when we asked some Rock Werchter organizers which way the traffic would be flowing and where we should move our car, we didn't get any answer. We were actually surprised that the boy we asked put in as much energy as he did to solve our question, even looking at a map for about 15 seconds before saying "I don't know". I guess he forgot that he was holding a walkie-talkie and could've asked someone with the knowledge, but what do you expect. We decided that if we had gotten an answer, it would probably have been wrong anyways so we just left the car where it was and hoped for the best.
As it turns out, it worked out well. The ride home flew by. There seemed to not be a car on the road the whole way home. Julie and I spent the whole 2 ½ hours singing (very loudly) some Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, any CD we knew the words to. I think Julie was excited to have some music she knew and I was just trying to stay awake.
On a side note, as we exited Werchter, we were looking for something on the radio and we stumbled upon the end of the Dodgers-Angels game. I love day games in the bleachers of Wrigley Field but I'm not the biggest baseball fan, especially on the radio. But after such a long weekend with so many annoying Europeans, I was really excited to have a bit of Americana. Julie wouldn't go for it though and I decided not to fight her on this given she had just struggled through 4 days of Stephen induced hell.
When we arrived back in A'dam, I was very happy to be home. I was also happy to be arriving at night as I thought it would be a lot easier to weave our way through the maze of streets trying to find our way home. It was not as easy navigating our way in as it was out but we made it with very little trouble.
We took our time unloading the car, again parking in the middle of the street. We weren't expecting to be holding up traffic this late in the night/early in the morning but there actually was a guy who pulled up behind us. And funny as it is, he was thrilled to see us blocking the street as this gave him a chance to put his car in park, exit the car, and pull up to the large urinal in front of our house known as the Herengracht canal. If caught, this is actually a big fine but at 3 AM, the chances of being caught are pretty low and when mother-nature calls, you answer.
Julie took everything upstairs and I looked for a parking spot. Luckily, I found one right away on the other side of the canal. The troubling part was I was going to have to parallel-park right against the canal...one false move and the car is submerged in the aforementioned man's piss. Thinking back to my father's great teachings, I mastered the parallel-parking assignment and was moments from bed.
In the morning, I took the car back to Hertz and went to work. Before doing so, I had to find gas. I had no clue where to begin looking because as mentioned before, this city was not made for cars and as such, gas stations are very rare, usually in the outskirts rather than city center. But luckily I found probably the only one in all of town just blocks from our apartment. This is what amazes me probably more than anything else - it cost me E45 to fill the car. I couldn't believe it was so much considering it was a small Joey car - although it was gray, not 'Razzmatazz Raspberry' like his auto.
I left the gas station, turning my body to be sure not to kill a biker on his way to work and returned the car. It was a successful experience and I actually really enjoyed driving in Europe. I imagine we will be making many more road trips through out our 3 years here and hopefully they are all as uneventful as this one was.
MUSIC
This is what the weekend was all about so why not discuss it, right? As I mentioned before, there was 53 bands and over 40 hours of music...don't worry, I'm not going to discuss all 53. The main headliners were Bjork and Radiohead on Thursday, Moby on Friday, Metallica on Saturday, and Counting Crows, Coldplay, and R.E.M. on Sunday. Metallica played the longest, 2 hours, with R.E.M. playing for 1 ½ hours and the rest playing just about 1 hour.
The festival also had a few bands I had heard of before but either had never seen or didn't know much about like Polyphonic Spree, Interpol, The Roots, Grandaddy, Xzibit, Good Charlotte, Anouk, Queens of the Stone Age, De La Soul, Supergrass, Los Lobos, The Cardigans, Cypress Hill, and Skin. Of these, I was really looking forward to seeing Polyphonic Spree, The Roots, De La Soul, and Los Lobos - and none of them disappointed.
Of the headliners, obviously Radiohead and Coldplay were real impressive. Moby definitely had the largest crowd and even pleased me for a moment as he did a cover of Radiohead's 'Creep', their only real commercially-successful song which they now refuse to play (mostly because of the subject matter, not because it is popular).
Metallica had the most die-hard fans. It was obvious that they were at Rock Werchter for one reason, Metallica. There were a million Metallic t-shirts being worn and they basically were worn all weekend, almost like the fans never changed their shirt (which might have been the case). They were also the only band to take the stage late and as Julie pointed out, Lars was probably backstage argueing about some kid downloading free music. As a side note, it was funny to see that the only people who didn't enjoy Moby and actually left the venue were wearing Metallica shirts. Pretty amusing.
R.E.M. was good but we left early as they were the last act and we were pretty wiped out by that time. One thing R.E.M. did that was pretty cool was they talked a lot about their previous appearances at Rock Werchter. Their first appearance was in 1985 when they were relatively unknown and played on Saturday afternoon on the small stage. They talked about some of the bands that played with them that day - U2, The Ramones, Lou Reed, etc. It was pretty cool to think that a small band in the tent that I saw could someday become a mega-band like R.E.M. It was also nice to see how loyal they stayed to Rock Werchter, playing the festival 8 times, even once they've become successful. This is similar to Coldplay who also played Rock Werchter 2 previous times.
The other band I was interested in seeing was Counting Crows. The only album I have is their first one with Mr. Jones (technically, I inherited it from Julie on October 15, 2000 when I ate my Altoid). I remember seeing them at the KROQ Weenie Roast festival in LA in 1993. I hated them. I was annoyed that they played all their hits differently than the record. They still did this, however, now this thrilled me. I suppose my musical tastes have changed a little since high school. The Counting Crows put on a great show, highly recommended.
The headliners were all good but in my opinion, the best bands were those I'd never heard of before. They tended to play the Pyramid Marquee.
I think the most interesting performance was Polyphonic Spree. I had heard of them but never seen or heard their music. They entered the Main Stage as the first act on Saturday with church music playing in the background - bells, pipes, organs. There was about 30 band members, all dressed in white choir gowns. They play an assortment of instruments including various brass and percussion instruments. And they rocked. The lyrics are very happy and the music is very eclectic (I know, a cliché word, but it's the only way I can think to describe it). The lead singer was a pretty happy guy - he kept saying "good morning" in a very Mr. Rogers way. The program with band bio info was in Dutch but I could make out that the band's look was inspired by David Koresh, and eerily, they looked like a cult. But whatever, they were fun.
The Roots also played the Main Stage on Friday afternoon and put on a great show. They really got the crowd going with a few covers of current hip-hop songs. They were fun as well.
Unfortunately, at the same time as The Roots was Grandaddy on the Pyramid Marquee. I had seen them before but was hoping to see them again. They perform with a big screen above them showing old clips and cartoons that goes with the music, almost like a music video. Again, great performers but since I had never seen The Roots, I had to miss most of Grandaddy.
Saturday, I spent most of my time at the Pyramid Marquee since almost every band there kicked ass. I think my favorite new band of the weekend was a band called Something Corporate from Santa Monica(?). They reminded me a bit of Ben Folds Five with the singer being an amazing piano player who really got the crowd going, including dancing on the keys of the piano in the middle of a jam (he must have small Julie-like feet in order to have balanced on the keys for as long as he did). They were so great. Unfortunately, Julie didn't get to see them but they are actually playing a very small, 200-person theater in A'dam (Melkweg) this week so we are going to see them there. I think Julie will like them.
The next Pyramid Marquee performance was by a Dutch band called Janez Detd. They reminded me of Green Day (before they became a bunch of wimps and the unofficial band of NBC primetime TV) or Blink 182. Despite getting almost every word to the cover "Walk this Way" wrong, people just loved them. I kept thinking about my cousin Mallory, thinking how she would love them. I want to suggest to her that she listen to them but I'm sure that she's already heard of them and that they are already "old" and too popular already if I've heard of them. Hey Mal, if not, I thought they were great and again, could really work a crowd. Check them out.
The French rap and hip-hop band Saian Supa Crew were next. I think my bro would love them. They had the whole tent moving like their predecessors did. They especially got the crowd going when they announced that they did not have enough money to have a music video made so they were going to use a handheld camcorder to create a video of that performance. The crowd loved it and the performance was awesome. I hope that was not a stunt because I think they probably got some great footage if they decide to use it. At one point, everyone in the crew left the stage except for 1 guy. From the angle I was standing at, I couldn't tell if their was a DJ at the back of the stage mixing and scratching records, but after a few moments, I realized that the amazing noises were coming from the lone performer's mouth. He was sampling 15-second pieces of old-school rappers like Kurtis Blow, Sugarhill Gang, Run DMC, and Grandmaster Flash. It was amazing. He sounded just like the original songs. He was making so many great noises and beat-boxing, he sounded like Michael Winslow from Police Academy.
I watched Xzibit on the Main Stage for a little bit but got tired of hearing him say "Westcoast represent". I wonder if anyone in the crowd even knows what that means. Julie and I had a good time during this coming up with our own gang signs. I think my favorite was the 3 middle fingers on the left hand facing down held to the right of the 3 middle fingers on the right hand facing up making an "M" and a "W" for Midwest. I know, we're pretty lame but Xzibit represented suckiness so we had to pass our time somehow.
I left Xzibit for the Pyramid Marquee to see Good Charlotte. I had heard of them but had no clue what they sang. Again, I thought about my cousin Mallory as they seemed to be her kind of music. I really enjoyed them and based on the fact that I had heard a few of their songs, I'm assuming that they are no longer one of her favorite bands anymore as they too have probably sold-out and gone commercial. I could be wrong though. Nevertheless, the was great.
The rest the day moved along with some descent bands and a short nap. Finally, Julie and I had had enough of Queens of the Stone Age and went to see Dave Gahan. I had no clue who he was and was about to comment that he sounded just like Depeche Mode when he played "Personal Jesus". I thought the "Behind the Music" said he died. Apparently not. He was phenomenal! He had the Pyramid Marquee going nuts and seemed to be having a really good time. At one point he had the whole crowd swaying their hands in unison from left to right. He loved the sight of 1000s of arms moving together that he basically attacked the cameraman until he began recording the crowd so that everyone could see what he was seeing on the jumbo screens. It was a pretty cool sight. I'm not a huge Depeche Mode fan but he played a ton of their songs and it was great.
Next was Calexico who Julie really liked and already commented on. Obviously there were a few more bands on Saturday but nothing really worth noting.
On Sunday, I was excited to see a few bands from the Nobel Junior High days - De La Soul and Cypress Hill. In a nutshell, they both disappointed. The crowd just wasn't into De La Soul and I quickly got the point that Cypress Hill enjoyed marijuana for medicinal purposes...just sing "Insane in the Membrane" and get off the stage already. To be fair, I was probably expecting to much from them given how great the unheard of bands had been up to that point.
I really enjoyed the jamrock of Supergrass on the Main Stage and Los Lobos on the Pyramid Marquee. I was actually really looking forward to seeing Los Lobos who I had wanted to see for a few years now. I know most people were expecting to hear "La Bamba" but I knew they would not be doing that kind of stuff. They did do an amazing cover of the Who's "My Generation" though. Los Lobos was really cool and I think Julie liked them too...it gave us a chance to practise our Phish-dance.
There were a few other bands, like Skin and The Cardigans, that I listened to for a little but not long. The one Sunday band who really rocked was a French hip-hop band called Zuco 103. It is a drummer, guitar, bass, DJ, and a black woman with an afro. They kicked ass and she was such an amazing personality. She was moving all over the stage, directing the crowd, and really seemed to enjoy herself. Even I began to move my hips, making Julie's dancing look graceful. She was so cool. The crowd absolutely loved her and I think she got the largest ovation of the weekend. I could tell by her reaction that she had never experienced this before and was in ecstasy. At one point, she couldn't control herself and actually went over to the DJ in the middle of an interlude to talk to him about the crowd reaction. It was wonderful to know that we were making her so happy.
All in all, the music was phenomenal. I had a great time and really would like to go again next year. I'll just have to wait long enough for Julie to forget about some of the issues before asking her again.
And as much as the music was great, it was also very interesting being at a European festival. They are going on all over the continent right now and most of the acts we saw, came from other festivals the night before and moved on to other venues the following day for performances in England, Germany, Norway, and other countries. But a good portion of our time at Rock Werchter was spent observing and commenting on our fellow concert-goers, so here is...
T. T. M. Y. G. HMMM... - ROCK WERCHTER
*** There were lots of non-English-speaking bands at the festival. Almost all of them would address the audience in Dutch or Flemish but then would sing only in English. I thought that was interesting as I'm sure they all made a conscience decision that if they want to become commercially-successful, they would have to perform in English. This, of course, was with the exception of the French bands who stayed true to their French ways and refused to sing in English. However, one of my favorite performances of the weekend was by a French band so I guess you don't need to understand the lyrics to enjoy music (which explains rap music - joke).
*** On Sunday, after a few days of dealing with rude Europeans, I experienced the ultimate - while laying on the blanket, a woman walked by and inadvertently kicked me in the head. I am fully aware that I was lying on the ground and that might happen but a normal person would have turned around and apologized, she turned around and kept walking. Amazing.
*** I saw a Greenpeace shirt that said "Reject Negative Energy". Isn't 'reject' a negative word. Wouldn't a more appropriate message be "Support Positive Energy"?
*** For some reason there are an awful lot of casts and wheelchairs at the festival. Why is everyone in the country injured? Is it related to the large of amount of cigarette smoking? Maybe it's because they all wrestle one another all the time. I also noticed a lot of scars. Nobody seemed to be self conscience about them - 1 girl had a scar on her chest but still wore a skimpy top, another guy had 1 across his belly but spent the whole weekend with his shirt off. Talk about self-confidence.
*** I guess cigarettes with filters are for wimps...everyone rolls their own here. There was even a concession stand that only sold cigarettes. I noticed a few people added a special plant to some of their rolled tobacco as well...there goes the notion that only the American tourists visit the coffee shops.
*** There is no drinking age, or at least it wasn't being enforced at the festival. There were people who didn't look older than 14 pounding beer after beer. There were whole families at the festival. Mom, drunk. Dad, drunk. Brother, drunk. Sister, drunk. A whole drunk family.
*** I am ready to claim my $25 million reward from the US government - I think I found Saddam...he's advertising for Take a Taco (see Picture 31 on the July 6, 2003 entry titled "PICTURES - Rock Werchter" for the context).
*** As noted earlier, Julie was not thrilled to see the port-a-potties. She had a difficult using them, whereas I chose not to use them at all =)
*** Festival staff smoked and drank on the job.
*** Everyone had these really cool inflatable beer trays that held 9 beers. The truly gifted drinkers could get as many at 15 beers on a tray. I bought one and heard people laughing at me when I used it to transport a basket of fries and 2 cups of water. I guess when you think about it, it's pretty funny.
*** Many woman wore just their bras. Julie commented that she thought it was weird that woman were trying to pass their bras as bathing suit tops but sadly, I don't think they were trying to disguise anything.
*** It was so hot. And of course, on a hot day like that, nothing is quite as refreshing as a tall glass of...milk!?!?! I can't believe that people drink milk when it's 700 degrees out. Since being here, I have noticed that everyone drinks a ton of milk. My coworkers drink milk at lunch. On Thursday at the press event at work, lunch was accompanied by 1 pitcher of water and 4 pitchers of milk. FOUR PITCHERS, PEOPLE.
*** The festival grounds had temporary urinals all over the place. It was pretty convenient, although as noted before, not convenient enough for some. Well, when I was at the urinal, someone had poked a hole in the black plastic that was on the fence to keep people from looking to the other side of the fence. I understand why that was - there was a huge hole about 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet filled with urine. The hose attached to the urinal was emptying into the hole. It was disgusting. I can't imagine that that is a good thing for the town's water system.
*** One of the corporate sponsors was handing out free mobile phone chargers. These were pretty cool because they were manual chargers. So all over the festival, you would see people using the hand crank to charge their phones.
*** We actually saw a guy at the show in a pair of wooden shoes. He was there by himself so he wasn't doing it to be funny. While we thought that was very interesting, even more interesting was that nobody else seemed to notice.
*** There were tattoos that made my bro's look like a small marking. I think my favorite one was a huge tattoos that was the size of the guy's back that said "unloved". I really wanted to get a henna tattoo so that I could fit in but then I thought about how cool Joey was with his allergic reaction and chose not to (sorry, that's 2 Joey references in 1 email but I think I missed a Joey comment in the last T-Pod so I owed you all 1).
*** I found it interesting to note that it is acceptable for the British to wear things with the Union Jack flag on it, or for non-Americans to wear things with the Stars and Stripes, but completely inappropriate and viewed as arrogant for an American to wear red, white and blue.
*** By the end of the weekend, the Wisconsin visor Julie was wearing looked a lot like my Wisconsin hat. I'm so proud of her.
*** The merchandising was certainly lacking. If this had been a US produced festival, there would already be CDs and DVDs of the event available.
*** It always made me laugh in the States when someone would yell at a fellow concert-goer "down in front". I always felt that just as the person standing had no right to ruin the concert for the people behind him by not allowing them to see, those requesting that the stander sit also had no right to ruin the show for the stander by not allowing them to stand and dance. But I wondered how the "down in front" guy would've done at Rock Werchter with people walking on their blankets, kicking them in the head, spilling their beer on them, wrestling and crashing into them, and throwing trash on or near them.
*** For some reason, all the drunks loved to talk to Julie. They would just approach her, speaking some language other than English, and she would just stand there laughing. It was pretty funny to watch.
*** As if it wasn't enough to hang out in the trash in the festival grounds or campgrounds, I couldn't believe how many people enjoyed hanging out just beyond the gates in the trash. What's with these people? Along that same note, with getting romantic with one another in the trash. It was pretty gross.
*** Julie and I got into a discussion about how bad the foreign language bands were. We tried to come up with some good mainland European musicians. The only person we could think of was Mozart. We extended our search to Scandinavia and that added only Abba, which can be debated as to whether they are considered "great". I thought of the Scorpions from Germany however Julie disagreed with the "great" label. So we are opening it up to you: help us think of some great musicians (we're so desperate, we'll also take "good") from mainland Europe (this does not include Scandinavia or the United Kingdom). At this point, we will even accept one-hit wonders.
*** I was surprised that when a band left the stage and the crowd loved them, the crowd would not chant "encore" or "bravo" or anything foreign or sophisticated, they yelled "we want more" in perfect English.
*** Each campground had its own beer garden, as if the campers weren't partying enough without an officially-designated drinking area. I found it interesting to see how crowded they were all day. It seemed like there were a lot of people who drove to Werchter just to hang out outside the festival ground, singing Dutch beer-drinking songs all day.
*** Julie commented already about the volume of the music at 4 in the morning. The ironic thing was how soft the music was at 11 o'clock in the afternoon. What's wrong with people? It seemed like they went out of their way to be assholes.
*** The crowd was very into coordinated dancing, jumping, and hand motions. If the performer said "put your hands in the air", every hand went in the air. If the performer said "jump", they jumped. It reminded me of the scene in the movie 'Pink Floyd's The Wall' after Bob Geldof shaved his eyebrows and had the whole crowd mesmerized and doing what he told them while he sang "Up Against the Wall".
*** Ola Ice Cream's slogan is "Pure Energy". Again, I think this slogan is slightly misleading.
*** I saw someone with a Stone Cold Steve Austin t-shirt. Judging by all the wrestling and horseplay, I suppose the WWE is still pretty popular over here.
*** The new fashion here must be Russian-related things. We saw about a dozen people wearing red shirts with "CCCP" on it. And even I bought a Rock Werchter shirt that says "Rock Werchter" in Russian lettering. I'm such a tool.
*** I have been to festivals in the past and the camping is always in 1 large area. Here, there were 20 smaller sites scattered among neighborhoods and houses.
*** There were tons of very young people. They looked like they were 12. And they were all drinking. I asked my coworker about the drinking age and he didn't seem to really know which lead me to believe that there isn't really one. I mean, everyone knows you have to be 21 to drink legally in the States, whether you agree with the rule or not. He finally said he thinks you can drink at 12 but you can't be sold alcohol until much older. So I guess an older person buys it and gives it to the younger person and everyone is happy and not liable. Doesn't seem to make sense to me.
*** Major PDA!
*** There was a stand that was collecting used cups in exchange for free beer. For every 20 cups, you receive a beer. So there were people who spent the whole festival walking around collecting cups. I wonder if they ever listened to the music. Were they really even getting a chance to drink? I think it was more a way to pass the time for some. I even saw one kid steal a sleeve of new cups, throw them on the ground, stomp on them, recollect them, and turn them in for beer. Needless to say, it is probably a good idea as it is far less expensive to give away some free beer than to clean up the empty cups with paid employees and it kept the site cleaner (I can't even imagine what it could've looked like).
*** The program had an advertisement from Playboy that was a picture of a man giving a nurse a specimen cup. He had a magazine rolled up in his back pocket and you could see "Playb..." on the top of the magazine. The motto at the top of the ad was "still donating".
*** There were a lot of woman wearing thongs. I can't imagine that they were comfortable sitting with that thing up their ass for 4 days in the heat and dirt. And why were they so concerned about showing their underwear line at a concert. I mean please. Along the same lines, there were many people who seemed to be wearing their best party or clubbing outfits. We're camping here people, relax.
*** The internet station at Rock Werchter had a different keyboard. I don't understand why because this is the first time I have ever seen this but it was odd. I kept typing where the "a" button is supposed to be and the screen would show a "p".
*** There were a few people who looked like professional campers. They had huge grills, wooden tables, refrigerators, and vans complete with beds, ovens, and refrigerators. It was pretty impressive.
*** Back to the comment on party outfits, we saw a woman, probably in her mid-20s walking around wearing very short, tight, white see-through spandex shorts. She was walking to the festival in front of us and it was amusing watching the reactions of every guy she passed. They all commented or fell to the floor but the funniest was some guy, in a very heavy accent yelled "my dick is yours". That pickup line didn't work but Julie and I talking about why we thought he said it in English. It seems like when people are unsure as to the language that someone else speaks, they always speak English (this of course is unless the guy is super drunk in which case he speaks to Julie in Dutch and she laughs at him).
*** I'm not exactly sure who Che was and I'm sure most people at Rock Werchter don't either but a ton of people were wearing shirts with his face on it. I even got caught up in the act and bought a wristband with his face on it. I figured nobody else knows who he is so it's ok that I don't either. I do know he was revolutionist and I'm sure he would be very supportive of free corporate give-aways that all of his fans seemed to be enjoying.
*** Some of the food vendors were selling Escargot. I kid you not.
*** The smell was bad at the festival but I can say with certainty that it smelled better than any Phish show I've ever been to. At least here, the majority of the people hadn't showered in 4 days. I'm not sure how long it has been for the majority at a Phish show. Along that note, there were port-a-showers. I wish Julie had given one of those a shot.
*** Along with there not being any garbage cans, there was also no security. It was crazy. I'm used to seeing those yellow jackets everywhere but there were none. There was medical staff stationed around which I found nice but no security. And I was shocked given the amount of beer consumed, the lack of respect for other people's areas, and the wrestling and horseplay that there were no fights. I guess they are just more mellow here.
*** There were so many guys doing very homo-erotic things to other guys. One guy would be laying on the ground and his friend would straddle his midsection and face him. I'm almost certain that they are not gay because they were the same people enjoying PDA with girls but it was odd.
*** I was happy to see that Jesus doesn't like European rock music as much as he hates US rock music (see Picture 22 on the July 6, 2003 entry titled "PICTURES - Rock Werchter" for the context).
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This was a REALLY long T-Pod. I can't imagine you'll have any questions at all. I am interested though in finding some European musicians though please let us know if you think of any.
But before we sign off, I just want to share a few discussions that Julie and I had many times during the weekend. It was mostly the result of Moby's GWBush comment. I don't think there is anyone who will argue that he isn't an idiot, GHWBush Sr. included. But it was obvious that Moby's comments were more against the war than against the President. Because Moby is against the war, does this mean he is for the oppression of an entire nation? And what about all the audience members who cheered him, would they be against American involvement 55 years ago? Was it a matter that should be handled by the locals when Hitler marched across Europe? What's the difference? Weren't their ancestors being threatened in the same way that the Iraqis were being threatened under Saddam? I'm not saying that everything went perfectly in Iraq but aren't they better off with some infrastructure issues than the fear of having their fathers and brothers taken away for no reason, never to be seen or heard of again until the mass graves are dug up? It does seem that at some point, sadly the only answer is war, I'm just not sure if we had reached that time. But to say "we want peace" I think implies that all the others want war and I don't think that is fair. Nobody wants war but in my opinion, sometimes it's the only way.
The other discusion which we commonly had was about all the Europeans who have protested 'big business' and the WTO. These are the same people who pushed to get a free corporate handout mobile phone chargers or shoved in order to wear a shoestring necklace covered with the Coke logos that held the musical lineup of the festival.
And lets not forget about the environmentalists who thrashed the festival grounds and campsites. Julie and I found it very interesting that most Europeans seem to be environmentally involved and very critical of US policy towards the environment but had no problem treating a farm in Belgium like a garbage dump. Apparently it is not ok to drill for oil in Alaska but it is perfectly ok to smash plastic cups into the ground.
Lots of contradictions. At the end, this was a great musical event and an interesting view of Europe.
Enjoy your July 4th and don't play with fireworks boys and girls. No real plans here, just trying to recoperate before our trip to Copenhagen next weekend. I am playing in a Young Bankers Association (bank-sponsored) field hockey tournament on Saturday. I have never played field hockey before so I'm sure Julie will be laughing her ass off at my lack of athletism. There is a party later that night so that should be fun.
We hope everyone is doing well and enjoys the 4th. Speak to you soon.
-Stephen
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